Now it’s Thursday afternoon; yesterday it was Monday. Or, at least that’s how it feels.
Since last Friday, I’ve been back in the UK to both see my wife (a rare occurrence in the last 12 months) and work on the London Business School Second Year Project. Tuesday was our first day on the project if one doesn’t count the planning for the research or contact with the organisation.
Essentially, we’ve been trying to get the know the org, the type of people they are and what some of the challenges are that they face. All and all, this has been a successful endeavor. From our various meetings, we’ve learned a great deal.
The overall project brief is pretty vague, which leaves plenty of room for us to work and plenty of obstacles including – where should we stop with the project definition? Do we outline just a game plan? A game plan with details in certain areas we think are relevant? Or do we quite school, work on site for the next 6 months???
Grant and I have both worked on projects that have expanded beyond control and are cognizant of the challenge. The second big challenge is making certain that we manage the relationships within the organisation appropriately. Like all great organisations, this one has many different people who care a great deal about its future success.
Yet, some have differing opinions.
We’ll have to make a recommendation at the end. How do we manage the expectations of all the main players to ensure that they are on-board or at least understand the logic behind the recommendations? Frankly, I’m not really certain the answer right now – other than to keep this challenge in mind during conversations, make certain our research is well done, and always keep our ultimate goal as ‘finding the best solution for the company.’
Sorry for the ramble. This camper is pretty tired. All in all a very good week, with lots more in store for the future.
